What Happened To The Chicago Bears And What Happens Next?

The Chicago Bears end their miserable 2014 season on Sunday in Minnesota against the Vikings. After high hopes in the beginning of the season, they have one last shot to fight to keep out of the NFC North basement. What happened this season, and what is next for this once-proud franchise?

The Chicago Bears, their fans and the city had high hopes at the start of the season. After falling one play short of the NFC North title last season (even with a bad defense), after some moves made in the offseason the thought was that this was a solid playoff team. Well, what had happened was…

What happened was that things did not come close to working out as planned. All the investments made on defense  resulted in the unit being WORSE than last season. The high-powered offense of last season? This season it was rather pedestrian at best. And the special teams was anything but special all season.

The winner of the offseason usually doesn’t win the season. 

As soon as the 2013 season ended, Chicago Bears GM Phil Emery and his staff got to working on trying to improve for 2014. First, he re-signed players on the team he felt were important to keep. Players like Tim Jennings, Matt Slauson and Jay Cutler.

Cutler was the biggest and most controversial signing. Emery and the Bears signed Cutler to a seven-year, $126 million deal, with $54 million guaranteed (am I the only one who found it ironic that the guaranteed money also matched the number of one of his biggest detractors, Brian Urlacher?).

Yes, there was an out clause after three years, and there was a clause that allowed the Bears to defer his money to free up salary cap space at any time, but after suffering some injuries and not fulfilling expectations that his abilities warranted, there was the option of franchising him instead.

Emery had complete faith in Cutler and had the deal done shortly after the season ended.

When free agency came, the Bears struck early and often. They signed defensive ends Lamarr Houston and Willie Young. They also signed safety Ryan Mundy.

Later on, Emery dipped into the Cutler bank, freed up some money, and landed the big fish, future hall of famer Jared Allen.

When the draft came, Emery concentrated on defense. He drafted cornerback Kyle Fuller in the first round. In fact, he drafted defense on four of his first five picks. There was definitely an emphasis on defense.

After free agency and the draft, things looked up for the Bears. Emery promised to make the Bears defense younger, deeper and more athletic, and it appeared he did just that.

There is a popular saying in sports, however. Teams that win the offseason don’t usually win the regular season as well.

This season, Emery and the Bears learned firsthand that refrain.

The defense was historically bad…again.

The defense, while getting younger, still had old veterans in key positions. Allen got off to a very slow start, then got sick (pneumonia) and was generally ineffective.

Jeremiah Ratliff spent the season in and out of the lineup dealing with injuries, Charles Tillman, a key cog to the secondary, went down early in the season with the same triceps tear that cost him last season. Lance Briggs, who together with Brian Urlacher gave the Bears one of the best linebacker duo in the NFL, was also in and out, and finally went down for the season with a groin injury suffered in Week 12.

While at times the young guys looked good, more often than not, they were getting torched, especially in the secondary. The defense gave up back-to-back games of 50+ points, one of them coming off a bye week. In two games against the hated Green Bay Packers, Aaron Rodgers threw TEN touchdown passes and ZERO interceptions.

A big problem for the young guys on defense is the lack of coaching coming from defensive coordinator Mel Tucker, who has overseen the worst two-year stretch on defense in franchise history. His schemes just do not work, and he looks like he is in over his head in Chicago. For the sake of the young players, Tucker needs to go.

There is no leadership on this team.

Under previous coach Lovie Smith, there was a strong leadership structure. Urlacher, Briggs and Tillman were the leaders on the team. If anything happened, it would be taken care of by them. If a player had a problem or question, one of them would resolve it.

When coach Marc Trestman took over, he took that away. He also started to use different game captains, not settling for a set group every week. That ruffled feathers.

Chicago Bears legend Mike Ditka criticized Trestman’s rotating captain policy, saying Trestman is trying too hard to make everyone feel special. He feels you need the one or two guys on each unit to look up to. “When you see a leader, you don’t

have to look too much further. It is what it is. If he’s the guy, then he’s the guy they want to follow. I believe you should have a captain and a co-captain on offense and defense.”

A team with all those Type-A personalities need a structured leadership model. It’s not that all hell will break loose and…wait, that’s exactly why it is needed. Having leaders could help stop behavior that is hurting the team on the field, or they could get the team together and help stem bad momentum. Without real leaders, things could fester, and grow bigger and bigger to the point that it destroys team morale, which is exactly what happened to the Bears this season.

Brandon Marshall tried to play the role of leader, trying to voice his opinions throughout the season. Then, after an embarrassing loss to his old team, the Miami Dolphins, he exploded in the locker room. Being that he was not a recognized leader, someone like Briggs rolled his eyes and left the locker room. Things just festered and nothing was done, and with so much turmoil behind the scenes, it’s no wonder that on the field the players couldn’t play together or with any emotion.

Trestman’s laid-back attitude, staying away from tightening the reigns on the team and letting the players handle things on their own has led to chaos on the team. He has lost the team. When he was hired, some, like Jerry Rice, questioned whether the soft-spoken coach could command a room with all those big personalities. It looks as if the answer to that question is a resounding NO.

Trestman believes that raising your voice to a player is a sign of disrespect. It isn’t. Sometimes, that is exactly what is needed to get a player going. It may not be the right way for every player, but some just play better when they are given a good swift kick in the butt. There is a balancing act a coach has to do, but to not challenge his players, he is inviting them to walk over him, and that is what happened this season.

What is wrong with Jay Cutler?

Back to Cutler. People have been waiting for him to put everything together and use his great talents to the fullest. He had a good line. He had great receivers. He had a great running back to ease some pressure. He had a coach who was offensive-minded and known as a quarterback whisperer. If anyone could get Cutler to put it together, it was Trestman.

Cutler still could not get it done this season. To be fair (and many in Bears Nation have not been fair to him), he did lose his line. After a season of having everyone on the line play the entire season, everyone missed some time this season, and Slauson and Jordan Mills were ultimately lost for the season.

Cutler was having problems before all that occurred. For some reason, he could not get on the same page with the receivers. In Trestman’s offense, the quarterback has to utilize progression skills to find the open man. Cutler would lock onto a receiver,

and not look anywhere else. He ended up making throws to, say, a double-covered Alshon Jeffery, on a third-and-two for an incompletion, when he had Matt Forte open five yards down in the middle of the field, wide open with no one near him. Defensive backs would just read his eyes and know where he was going to throw.

Cutler also plays too loose with the ball. This season, he leads the league in turnovers. He has an NFL-leading 18 interceptions, and he also has 12 fumbles, and six of those fumbles were lost. That, too, is the result of zeroing in on one receiver, waiting for him to get open, when he could check down and find someone else open.

Cutler’s defenders point out that aside from the turnovers, Cutler is having a pretty good season. That is what sucks people in on Cutler. He has the tools to be an elite quarterback, but he just can’t put things together.

Last season, the Bears offense was fantastic. It ranked second in points scored, behind only the historic Denver Broncos offense. Cutler missed five games, and those five games may have completely changed the perception of the season.

As you can see above, with the same awful defense, McCown actually had a winning record. He also had a higher completion percentage and yards per game average. What is also eye-opening is that McCown threw just one interception, while Cutler threw 12.

While everyone is lamenting what happened to Cutler this season, looking at the numbers above, I could argue that he is having the same season as he did last season. This season, his record is 5-9, he’s completed 66 percent of his passes, he averages 260 yards per game, he’s thrown 28 touchdowns and 18 interceptions. Since he is the only one in the spotlight, however, people are noticing it. Last year, McCown covered a lot of Cutler’s deficiencies.

Cutler has also enraged Bears fans with his lack of fire and emotion. If he just threw an interception in the end zone, he goes to the bench and it looks like he just feels like “Oh well, stuff happens.”

That may be Cutler’s biggest downfall — perception. He might be upset at himself or his teammates. He might go home and cry about what is happening. The problem is, on the field he looks as if he just doesn’t give a damn. The fact that he continues to make the same mistakes season after season without making adjustments also feeds to that perception. It seems as if he just isn’t trying to get better.

Cutler has had four offensive coordinators and two head coaches since he’s been in Chicago. None of them have gotten the best out of him. His play has been so uninspiring and bad he was even benched last week. At some point, he needs to look in the mirror and realize that the problem may not have been with them, but with him.

What happens next?

The Bears will play their last game on Sunday, and maybe fight to keep out of the NFC North basement. After that, expect changes to happen. Word around Halas Hall is that ownership met after the loss to the New Orleans Saints, and decided that Trestman will be fired. It will be a nerve-wracking Black Monday for all to see if indeed Trestman is indeed relieved of his duties as coach.

What about the architect of all this dysfunction, Emery? Apparently, his fate has not been decided yet, even though he brought in Trestman, kept Tucker after a horrible defensive season last year and signed Cutler to a huge contract without leaving himself options by franchising him first. If he made an absolute blunder in hiring Trestman and his signing of Cutler (and not to mention some of his misses in the draft), what will make anyone believe he’ll get it right this time?

Jay Glazer reported on Sunday that Jim Harbaugh could be in play for the Bears. He was drafted by the Bears so he has experience with the team. There also was word that the Bears will ask the Arizona Cardinals for permission to speak with their defensive coordinator Todd Bowles, who could be a popular choice for a number of teams.

If the Bears do decide to part ways with Trestman, they should hire a coach who can command a room of high-priced egos. It should be someone the players can respect, and not one who will get walked on.

Whoever comes in will have to make a big decision on Cutler. There could be a number of teams interested in signing him (hello Tennessee, Cutler has a home there). Would that be a viable option, or will giving him another chance with his third head coach and fifth coordinator be better?

Whatever happens, there will be a lot of attention placed in Chicago this offseason.

Next: Where do the Chicago Bears rank among all 32 NFL franchises all-time?